• About UANews
• Sign up for News
• Resources for Media
• Calendar
• Contact Us

The Park Student Union is home to the UA Student Exchange Store, which is operated and managed by UA students. The store buys and resells gently used UA student household and other items to the University community.

By Rebecca Ruiz-McGill, University Communications
October 8, 2009

The University of Arizona BookStores: Student Exchange Store – an innovative concept among college bookstores – has been open for business since August.

Their inventory? Discounted new items as well as gently used items sold by UA students.

The store is not only providing students with inexpensive merchandise but also is keeping thousands of items out of landfills.

Students are invited to visit the store to purchase discounted new items such as appliances, furniture and clothes, but are also invited to sell items they no longer need.

The store is located at the Park Student Union and is operated and managed by UA students Claire Bates and Ashley Sanders.

Bates, a retail and consumer sciences major, first started working at the main UA BookStore location two years ago and was invited to attend the National Retail Federation Conference in New York City in January by UA BookStores executive director Frank Farias.

Bates said the conference message that resonated with the team was that the retail climate was changing due to the economy and that retailers needed to find ways to respond to the needs of its clients.

"Frank came up with the idea of building a store where students could buy, sell and trade possessions and buy items at a discount. Living in Tucson where there are many resale stores I had experience with the concept," Bates said.

She and Sanders began researching the possibilities and came up with a business plan, which Farias accepted. He made his team of retail experts available to help get the exchange store up and running, but the day-to-day and overall management is up to Bates and Sanders and six student employees.

The store is open to the general public from Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. with the team buying and selling used items throughout the day from UA students with Cat Cards.  

The team sets pricing of used items based on the sale of similar items on Craigslist, selecting the low to medium range for comparable items.

"We have a 20-minute parking zone nearby and a service area in the back. If a student is willing to bring something here for resale, we are willing to look at it," Bates said.   

"So far the busiest time for the store was its opening in August," said Sanders. "Graduate students came in and bought everything – including furniture, school supplies and microwaves. We are looking forward to more of a steady crowd of buyers and sellers year round," she added.  

Sanders, an art major, wants to own a business someday. She also wanted to advance professionally while working at the UA BookStore. Her efforts were noticed by BookStore management and Bates who invited her to join in the endeavor.

"I find it most fulfilling to be my own boss – to have the extreme responsibility of running a store, to turn in a store sales report to manage employees. I'm 20 years old but this is what I want, to run my own store now and in the future,' said Bates.

"The store is our child. We are very proud of it. It's a sustainable idea – the notion of reselling and we donate what doesn't sell to the Salvation Army," Sanders said.